


ToWI 2: Prodigal Sons

by BlandProtagonist



Series: Tales of Wartime Intermissions [2]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, F/M, Gen, Guess Who's Back, Lotor redeemed, Lotura - Freeform, Other, Wedding, hunay if you squint - Freeform, pidgance, plance, romatt
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-03
Updated: 2018-12-08
Packaged: 2019-09-06 10:24:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 7,658
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16830772
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlandProtagonist/pseuds/BlandProtagonist
Summary: The Atlas heads towards the Patrulian Zone to help defend Oriande from a seemingly impending attack by Lotor. However, when Lance's visions of a face from his past turn out to be very real, everyone must question everything they thought they knew and the people they thought they could or couldn't trust.Is Lotor really the bad guy, or did they size him up too quickly? Is the Blade of Marmora truly an ally to Voltron, or simply lying in wait to betray them? And most importantly, how will our heroes save entire planets being held hostage?Don't know how quickly I'll get this done, but it probably won't be finished before season eight, and it's going to be shorter than ToWI but still written in three acts.





	1. Sequel Preview

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Tales of Wartime Intermissions](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16157093) by [BlandProtagonist](https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlandProtagonist/pseuds/BlandProtagonist). 

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A little snippet to build some hype.

"So, is this everyone, then?" Allura looked around the room at the slew of faces, new and familiar. The paladins sat closest, with the Voltron Task Force standing behind their chairs. The next closest were the Atlas crew leaders and a few seconds, and at the farthest end stood the MFE leaders. The group had grown a lot since her leave, and she stood proud at the head of the briefing.

She rested her palms on the table. "I've been living in Oriande for, how long's it been- several years now. Throughout the course of my stay, I and everyone else have been treated with the utmost respect and humanity possible. our crime rates are incredibly low and due to our position in the Patrulian zone, we've not received any outside attacks or force whatsoever. We do, however, have scouting parties that leave to gather intel on the planets around us, and some even come as far as Earth, as you well know.

"We've been alerted of the interplanetary civil wars sweeping the nearby galaxies, particularly affecting members of the Voltron coalition. We believe it's an effort to weaken Voltron's allied defenses to give the instigator a clear shot at taking down Voltron itself. Several people have been lost in relief efforts, and it's possible that these were calculated moves on the enemy's part, and that whoever they are, they are attempting to lure the paladins out of the safety of their home planet's security.

"According to our scouts, who've gathered numerous accounts on this matter, Lotor has been spotted around the Patrulian zone with a small posse of about four or five others, presumably being generals or body guards. He's been traveling planet to planet incredibly fast, and thus, we believe it's possible that he's the one interfering and causing these wars."

Matt, standing behind Pidge, raised a hand slightly to get her attention. "We've been to these planets ourselves, trying to confirm a cause to these wars, and there's never been one certain answer, apart from both sides saying the other started it, and both sides denying what they've been accused of. There are too many of these breaking out in this same way for it to be a simple coincidence, especially given that most of these planets have been peaceful for centuries. Someone's clearly meddling around, which is why we've come to the conclusion that it's being started by the same group. All evidence we've gathered adds up to it being an advanced Galra influence, and Lotor is the only lead we have on that. Romelle and I have been to almost every planet ravaged by these wars, and we've found nothing that can clear Lotor's name. So we aren't just jumping to conclusions, as some people have speculated. The Blade of Marmora, yes, is made up of Galra, but they've proven their allegiance to Earth countless times. Any other protests without clear proof will be considered an attack on the Blades, so choose your words carefully from now on."

Allura nodded. "As someone who's doubted them many times, even I have come to realize the Blade's intentions are only for the good of us all. They are our allies. Lotor, if he is indeed instigating these wars, is the enemy. What we're asking of all of you is to join us in a mission to work with them against him. This is no time to be divided, especially after so long of being united. This journey will no doubt be incredibly risky, but it's for the good of the planet. We've defeated him once, and we can do it again."

She crossed her arms, displaying a proud smile.

"And now, you have the Alteans on your side as well. I'm sure we will prove ourselves to be a truly formidable ally."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is just a little preview, I'm going to put this in the real first chapter. Y'all ready to redeem Lotor???


	2. If It Hurts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Allura leads a briefing on Lotor, his whereabouts, and his share of the Altean colony, only to be reminded of just how little she truly knows else-wise.

The briefing was held upon the return of the Blade's relief team. The paladins then gathered their task force counterpart - Pidge with Matt, Veronica with Rachel, Keith with Krolia, Hunk with Coran and Lance with Romelle - and grouped together in the meeting hall. Following them, the room flooded with people until there wasn't so much as breathing room, let alone standing room.

"So, is this everyone, then?" Allura looked around the room at the slew of faces, new and familiar. The paladins sat closest, with the Voltron Task Force standing behind their chairs. The next closest were the Atlas crew leaders and a few seconds, and at the farthest end stood the MFE leaders. The group had grown a lot since her leave, and she stood proud at the head of the briefing.

She rested her palms on the table. "I've been living in Oriande for... how long's it been- several years now. Throughout the course of my stay, I, and everyone else, have been treated with the utmost respect and humanity possible. our crime rates are incredibly low and due to our position in the Patrulian zone, we've not received any outside attacks or force whatsoever. We do, however, have scouting parties that leave to gather intel on the planets around us, and some even come as far as Earth, as you well know.

"We've been alerted of the interplanetary civil wars sweeping the nearby galaxies, particularly affecting members of the Voltron coalition. We believe it's an effort to weaken Voltron's allied defenses to give the instigator a clear shot at taking down Voltron itself. Several people have been lost in relief efforts, and it's possible that these were calculated moves on the enemy's part, and that whoever they are, they are attempting to lure the paladins out of the safety of their home planet's security.

"According to our scouts, who've gathered numerous accounts on this matter, Lotor has been spotted around the Patrulian zone with a small posse of about four or five others, presumably being generals or body guards. He's been traveling planet to planet incredibly fast, and thus, we believe it's possible that he's the one interfering and causing these wars."

Matt, standing behind Pidge, raised a hand slightly to get everyone's attention. "We've been to these planets ourselves, trying to confirm a cause to these wars, and there's never been one certain answer, apart from both sides saying the other started it, and both sides denying what they've been accused of. There are too many of these breaking out in this same way for it to be a simple coincidence, especially given that most of these planets have been peaceful for centuries. Someone's clearly meddling around, which is why we've come to the conclusion that it's being started by the same group. All evidence we've gathered adds up to it being an advanced Galra influence, and Lotor is the only lead we have on that. Romelle and I have been to almost every planet ravaged by these wars, and we've found nothing that can clear Lotor's name. So we aren't just jumping to conclusions, as some people have speculated. The Blade of Marmora, yes, is made up of Galra, but they've proven their allegiance to Earth countless times. Any other protests without clear proof will be considered an attack on the Blades, so choose your words carefully from now on."

Allura nodded. "As someone who's doubted them many times, even I have come to realize the Blade's intentions are only for the good of us all. They are our allies. Lotor, if he is indeed instigating these wars, is the enemy. What we're asking of all of you is to join us in a mission to work with them against him. This is no time to be divided, especially after so long of being united. This journey will no doubt be incredibly risky, but it's for the good of the planet. We've defeated him once, and we can do it again."

She crossed her arms, displaying a proud smile.

"And now, you have the Alteans on your side as well. I'm sure we will prove ourselves to be a truly formidable ally. Our new technology integrated with yours and the Galra's has proven time and time again to be superior to many, and with the developments over the past few years with others' technology, there is no doubt in my mind that we are more than prepared to face this threat. However, none of you have been told the true extent of our enemy's influence." Allura looked from face to face of the paladins. "Not even Voltron. I thought it would be best to tell everyone at once, so there would be no need to repeat and no chance of confusion."

The princess took a deep breath before activating the holoscreen before her. It displayed several images of Lotor and his posse. Lotor's markings had become very visible and elongated due to his time in the quintessence rift, but he otherwise looked little different. The more concerning piece of the puzzle before them was - 

"Alteans!" Romelle practically shouted. "He's got Alteans with him! But how?"

Allura expanded a few of the images. "When Empress Honerva came to the colony's rescue, approximately 20% of the population had been taken to a secondary location, which is understandable that he would attempt to move them after Keith and Krolia's discovery of their original position. We never found out exactly where he took them, but Honerva used her magic to rescue the remaining population under the guise of working with Lotor. To keep them from asking questions, on their journey to Oriande, she would give them falsified reports of Lotor's ship, eventually telling them that she'd lost contact with them entirely but would continue on to their original destination. The empire mourned the loss of such a large portion of itself, but healed itself under the Empress' rule. Until the scouts' reported sightings, we truly believed Lotor and his group of Alteans to be lost."

"So where are the rest of them?" Hunk studied one of the images. "It looks like the same six or seven follow him everywhere."

She sighed. "We have no idea."

"Why are all their Altean markings so stretched out like Lotor's?" Pidge pointed to a few clearer shots. "Did they find another rift opening?"

Keith thought for a moment. "If the empire was doing experimentation on Altean, Galra and Human quintessence, who's to say Lotor wasn't doing his own?"

"Replicating the levels of energy needed to have that kind of effect on them would be incredibly difficult." Pidge explained. "you'd need a monumental amount of of quintessence in it's purest form, which you can't access without a rift."

"Maybe not." Coran spoke up. "There are ways to purify quintessence, and ways of collecting enormous amounts. Haggar managed to create the Komar, and that sapped entire planets in seconds."

"It's also the technology that drained Voltron around the time we came back home."

"Ah, that's right!"

"Hang on," Lance stopped them, "that still doesn't explain how Lotor got his hands on that kind of weapon, nor does it explain the Alteans' faces. And if they've all been exposed tho that kind of power, does that mean he has a battalion of immortal warriors?"

"It's possible, yes." The princess sifted nervously. "But they aren't entirely undefeatable. After all, Zarkon underwent the same treatment and was still killed."

"Yeah, after how many tries? Too many. And it took Lotor himself to do it."

"Lance, how many times has Voltron won a war against our foes?"

"... I don't kn-"

"Every time. Does it matter how many tries it takes if we are yet to fail? We have a 100% success rate, and that should overshadow how long it took us to succeed."

"So what exactly is our plan?"

Rachel crossed her arms. "It seems pretty simple. We fly out to Oriande and rendezvous with the Alteans there before seeking out Lotor in groups of scouts lead by Lions. We'll have the Atlas stand as a home base on the edge of the Patrulian zone so we avoid the trouble of getting in an out of Oriande, especially since us humans can't get in there at all." She gestured to the MFE plots and Blade reps. "Meanwhile, the rest of the Garrison forces protect Earth and continue relief efforts. It's probably best if you stay to lead the Blade in Keith's absence." She nodded to Krolia.

Allura was taken aback.

"You've certainly... Changed since we last spoke."

She brushed it off. "Lots of things have changed since you left. My place as an analyst and strategist among the Voltron Initiative is hardly worth calling attention to these days, princess."

"The... What?"

"We established a task force focused entirely on Voltron affairs. We three are the heads of it; myself as analytical strategic specialist, Romelle as primary consul and plenipotentiary, and Matt as field services and technological advancements and affiliations."

Allura was silent.

"...I plan, she puts it into action and he makes sure it stays on cour-"

"I'm aware of what that all means, it's just... This is all just a very sudden change for me to take in." She addressed the room. "I understand that I have a lot to catch up on, and you've all been informed of my correspondences over the years, so there's nothing more I need to speak with you all about. You'll be given individual orders by the Commanders on their time. We will reconvene when our plans have been finalized. Until then, this briefing is over. You're all dismissed."

The room was slowly emptied of its sea of of contents, eventually leaving the paladins and the princess alone.

"Sorry about Rachel; her job's sort've gone to her head."

"Lance, she wasn't at all behaving out of line," Allura assured him. "She has every right to be proud of her position. It's just that I... I'm so far behind on everything here. And..." She looked almost sad.

"... It is bit hard to return to a family I no longer have a place in."

"Allura," Keith put a hand on her shoulder, "You've always had a place in this family, and you always will."

Veronica's eyes didn't meet the princess'. "I suppose you'll be wanting Blue back?"

She shook her head. "No. She's chosen her paladin. Just as the empire has chosen their new Empress. Once we've secured this victory against Lotor, Honerva is stepping down. I will no longer be just a princess. I'll be the new guiding light to my people."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A crown, if it hurts us, is not worth wearing.  
> Allura wasn't ready to leave Voltron, and she's certainly not ready to rule; why is she so intent on doing so?
> 
> Allurangst, wow.  
> Also, yes, the VTF is headed by three impulsive, protective older siblings. The new holy trinity you are all welcome


	3. Nightmares

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance decides to move up the date of the wedding before consulting Pidge - but she gets upset over something else he hadn't told her.
> 
> Sorry this chapter ends a bit abruptly, I started getting carried away

"Alright, junior cadets! Who's ready for a little down time?"

Most of the kids excitedly exclaimed some version of "Me!" as Lance brought around a small trash can for them to toss their snack wrappers in. He loved the kids. He loved being a teacher in general, but running the new wing of the Garrison was incredibly difficult for him to do while being on-call. Sure, he received help from others, especially his sisters, but they didn't have nearly as much passion for it. Lance's little project had evolved into a huge success, and even if it was increasingly challenging, he never regretted starting it up.

He grinned as the last child, Raven, stood up to throw away her trash. He had a soft spot for her in particular. She wasn't Hunk and Shay's biological child, but anyone could've been fooled by it. The pair had adopted her, a Balmeran infant, just a year or so prior. Balmerans age a bit faster than humans in their early stages, and she was now roughly a 5 year old. Raven was the sweetest kid he'd ever met, but also incredibly shy. He was one of the few adults she was comfortable around, and referred to him as her uncle. Some days, he only chose to teach so he could see her golden brown eyes be squished shut by her cheeks when she smiled. It was the farthest he'd come for a long time to being a dad himself.

The kids, this class of 12 in particular, were all children of engineers. The majority of the children were fascinated with their parents' work, and often tried to build things of their own, and naturally they were encouraged by the staff. In their down time, offered just after snack time to extend the teachers' semi-break from having to wrangle them, most of them pursued toys or books or the like that pertained to those subjects. The entire group were artists in their own right. It was typical of younger kids to draw pictures, but the creative minds that they'd gotten from their parents often displayed itself that way. The children were by no means on par with classical artists, but the inventions and characters that they created were greatly varied as a whole and incredibly cohesive individually.

However, Raven stuck out in that manner. The other children scrambled for the same few things, but she would sit alone, drawing. She was quite gifted, but rarely drew things of her own design. Instead, she filled page after page with images of her parents, herself, Lance and Pidge. He had nearly filled their apartment with pictures Raven had drawn of them, cherishing each one more than the last. As he passed by now, his eyes briefly crossed her paper, and he stopped.

"What are you drawing, Ray?" He sat down next to her as she continued to color in one of the forms.

"It's you and Aunt P. You're getting married and I'm the flower girl." She pointed to each of the figures as she identified them. He smiled. Raven set down her brown crayon and turned to him. "Daddy said you're all going on a trip to see a princess. Are you?"

"Actually, the princess is here _with_ us. We're going to go see a queen and help her knights keep a big monster out of her castle."

"Are you and Aunt P getting married first?"

"First?"

"Are you getting married before the trip to the castle?"

Lance thought for a moment. He'd practically forgotten about the ceremony plans they'd made so long ago, and the date they'd saved would pass while they were gone. Suddenly he felt a bit ill. The images of Pidge in her dress striding down the aisle on her father's arm now seemed faded and far off. He'd spent hours one night just fantasizing of her beautiful smile framed in glossed pink lips, flowers tucked into her hair, her eyes glittering when the autumn sun hit them... It wasn't even a guarantee that they would return from this mission, but somehow not having the chance to slide a golden band on her finger became a much worse fate than death. Would they get married early? Were they doomed to never be married at all? Could they get married on the Atlas? No that wouldn-

"Uncle Lance?" Raven reached her small hands up to his cheeks at patted them a few times to get his attention.

He looked back at her, her hands still on his face. "Yeah?"

"So I get to be a flower girl _this week_?" The girl's face lit up.

"Uh, um... Hopefully. We have to make sure everything's... Ready to go." He patted her head as he stood, telling the aide he'd be stepping out for the day.

He spent the rest of the daylight on the phone, making arrangements.

Pidge slid under the covers and nestled herself against Lance's warm chest. She was an absolute mess, exhausted from a day preparing her teams for her leave. It was a matter of seconds before he blurted it out.

"Let's get married on Sunday."

She offered a confused look. "Huh?"

"I don't want to leave Earth before marrying you. We don't know if we're even coming back, but I told you I was going to pledge what was left of my life to you. If I die before then-"

"Lance. You're doing it again."

"Sorry, I just-"

"Hey." She turned over and propped herself up on her elbows. "For one, you're not going to die. None of us are. We'll be just fine. It's a few of him against a lot of us. Second, there's no way you honestly believe this mission is that dangerous. If any of us would go charging in someplace blind, it would be you,hands down."

"... I don't want to risk _this,_ though."

"Risk what?" She gave a sympathetic laugh. "You can't seriously think that our relationship will be affected by a mission. We've been through Hell so many times it doesn't phase us anymore. Even through the episodes and the nightmares, I never left your side. Why would I now?" She stopped, noticing the slight flinch when she mentioned it. Sighing, Pidge took his hand in hers, holding it tight.

"I'd marry you if I had to wait a lifetime. Why would I have any problems moving it up to Sunday?" She smiled at him, using her free hand to brush his hair from his forehead, a gesture he'd always found comforting. He buried his face in her neck, saying nothing.

The room fell silent for a long time. 

"Katie."

"You haven't called me that in a while."

"They never stopped."

"What?"

"I'm on edge about all of this... Because I never stopped being on edge. The nightmares and all of that never stopped. I just stopped telling you about them."

"... Why? Why didn't you tell me?" She sat up. "What were they about?"

"... Her. I'm seeing it again. All of it."

"Lance-"

"I was lucky then. Really lucky. If I'm going to stay alive I have to be lucky every time, but Lotor only has to be lucky once, Katie. Once. That's why I'm in panic mode. If something happened to one of us... It would kill me knowing I wasted our time together."

"You didn't waste any time. I already told you. We'll move it up. And you're not going to keep anything else from me, got it? This isn't a negotiation, but I want you to promise me you're not going to keep me in the dark anymore."

"...Okay."

"Now get some sleep, okay? You're gonna need it. There's a lot to do before Sunday."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I couldn't come up with a good title for this one but the theme of this chapter is the duality of dreams/nightmares. Some of them we chase after, and some of them chase us.  
> Yes, Hunay has a kid, but they aren't married, and yes, Lance has PTSD. More on it later.


	4. Bachelor Royale

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith and Hunk throw a bachelor party for Lance; starting with a shooting and training range catered to him, with hundreds of hand picked weapons. Meanwhile, Rachel and Veronica set up a bachelorette party for Pidge in an underground mechfighting ring.

The following week was far from a mad dash, but neither Lance nor Pidge had many chances to sit or relax. Each of them had teams of staff under their instruction, and thus had to spend much of their time on scheduling and planning to cover the predicted length of their absence, and then a bit more to cover the possible deviation. The McClain parents handled most of the wedding affairs in the meantime, and unbeknownst to the couple, their friends had been planning something for each of them as well.

"What is this?"

"A surprise."

"Well yeah, Hunk, I could've guessed that from the blindfold alone."

Keith continued leading Lance by the shoulder. "Just trust us."

"I can barely trust you to watch my dog for five minutes, why would I-"

He received a sharp slap to the back as a familiar voice greeted him, "We-he-hell, look who's finally here."

The blindfold was removed by unseen hands behind him, revealing a huge setup before him. There were several folding tables loaded with a wide variety of weapons, primarily firearms. In the distance, he could see shooting dummies and targets, as well as a few mobile trap house machines. Both of his brothers, Hunk, Keith, Matt, Ryan and three of the wolves accompanied him.

"Marc, quit fawning over the dog and get over 'ere!" Luis ruffled Lances hair as Marco stood from his position next to Leon. The wolfdog immediately charged full speed for his owner, fumbling over his own paws and clumsily falling. He righted himself as though nothing had happened, sitting at the paladin's feet.

Ryan uncrossed his arms and gestured to the setup. "Welcome to your bachelor party."

"The first part of it, anyway," Matt chimed, "We've got a whole day planned out for you. The girls took Pidge out, too. Apparently you're staying with us tonight, since you're not supposed to see her the day of the ceremony. Bad luck or something like that."

Marco patted a table of blades. "We got stuff from all over the world. Some of it's replicas of stuff hundreds of years old."

An out of breath Coran appeared, practically collapsing. "Sorry I'm late!" He held up the two purple bayards. After the VP6 incident, Veronica passed hers on to Rachel, as the first official member of the VTF. A second was designed for Romelle, and Matt declined a third for himself. Coran had brought them for the non-paladins to try out.

"You only needed to bring one," Keith said, helping him to his feet.

"Romelle gave me both; I figured two is better than one."

"Damn right," Ryan snatched one from his hands, slipping on Rachel's activator. it took a few moments, but the bayard glowed and stretched into an Altean rendition of a Garrison Lancer - a rifle to which its designer and namesake beamed with pride.

"You clearly have taste," Lance sleighted. He took another look around. "So, you built up a shooting range to compete against the sharpe-"

"-The sharpest eye of the century, yeah," Hunk chuckled. "But there's no way you're a master at all of these weapons."

Keith crossed his arms with a smirk. "Besides, when's the last time you used anything outside of your bayard? For all we know it's doing half the work for you."

Without breaking eye contact with the group, Lance reached over and picked up a pistol, cocking it. With only a slight glance, he aimed for a dummy and fired. The bullet struck it in the left ribs. His brothers were absolutely blown away by the spectacle, having never truly seen him in action prior. The fact that his aim had been off due to the hasty shot went far over their heads, completely unnoticed. He dramatically blew imaginary smoke from the rim of the gun's barrel, twirling it around in his hand a second before tossing it back on the table.

"It's not about the weapon, _Rapunzel_ ," Lance smirked at the nickname he knew Keith hated. "It's all about the handler. So, are you all ready to lose miserably?"

"Where are we going?" Pidge cautiously followed Veronica, Hopper at her side and on his guard.

"You want me to ruin the surprise?"

"I've never been a huge fan of surprises."

"You'll like this one. Promise." She winked.

"Are we going to burn an effigy of-"

"Okay, you seriously need to get over him, it was one mistake."

"A mistake that cost hours of research! Do you have any idea how valuable that information is?"

"Aren't you trying to build a new kinda of plant?"

"We're trying to engineer a species of flora that grows fast, lasts a long time and-"

"Lance said something about growing things with the flip of a switch."

"That's a long way off, but wouldn't it be incredible to achieve that kind of rapid growth? We'd end world hunger! And if we combine it with the cure-all fruit we're working on, we could rid the world of disease overnight!"

"And how's the cure-all coming along?"

"... It's a work in progress, obviously, but we've already developed ways to kill viruses within humans, which is a huge deal."

"We're here."

Pidge looked up at the building. It was short, hardly one story tall, and completely devoid of any identifying marks. It was a simple grey brick, with a single door and no windows.

"This looks incredibly shady."

"Oh, it is. It's the local mechfighting ring. Took us a while to find it, given that there's a lot of illegal tech involved, but we managed." She held open the door for her. "After you."

She hesitantly entered. She'd heard about this place before, but hadn't taken the rumors seriously until now. The door opened to a set of stairs, which led down to another closed door. A roar of shouts erupted from the other side, and she instinctively summoned her bayard.

"Calm down," Veronica gently pushed her katar down. "We already scoped the place out. It's perfectly safe."

"I thought there were supposed to be gangs affiliated with this place. Like mob bosses and violen-"

She laughed. "It's a mech ring, not a cartel hangout." She pushed open the door, allowing the volume of the shouts to increase drastically. "How many amateur engineers do you know that would involve themselves in that kind of stuff?"

The girls, followed by her wolfdog, entered a black-lit room resembling a large bar. To one side, a huge, brightly lit mech pit enticed a group of cheering onlookers. To the other sat a counter in front of a wall of alcohol and what appeared to be a window to a kitchen. Several stools were pulled up to the counter, and a few of them had been taken up by familiar faces.

Rachel waved, standing with a glass of something in her hand. Romelle and Nyma followed suit, each with their own mugs. Together, the five headed to a table against the wall, closer to the crowd. Allura and another few girls, mostly members of her research team, had taken up the booth. Beezer make a noise resembling a greeting upon Nyma's approach.

"I'm only here because I'm his ride," she joked. The McClain sisters exchanged knowing looks, as that was, indeed, the only real reason they'd invited her.

Pidge elbowed Rachel. "You let everyone drink?"

She scoffed. "The alcohol content of these drinks is so low they could pass as a glance at children's communion wine."

"Says the alcoholic."

"I'm not an alcoholic if I'm not addicted. I barely drink at the Garrison, and I'm not exactly trying to get blackout drunk tonight. Not that it would be possible with this stuff. Engineers are real wimps." She took a swig.

"The ones that drink hard either bring their own or show up drunk already," one of her researchers offered.

Romelle held up her glass. "I'm drinking chocolate milk."

Rachel shook her head. "I can't believe they even had that available."

"So..." Pidge rested a hand on Hopper's head as he sat beside her, "Why are we here?"

"Bachelorette party, sweetheart!" Rachel cheered and raised her glass above her head. "Why else?"

"Huh?"

She put an arm around her shoulders, pointing at the crowd with her glass-holding hand. "Those are your people tonight. They've got all kinds of robots and junk ready for you to play around with. It's like video games with actual robots. It's insane. They tear each other apart for the sake of science."

Veronica lifted her sister's arm off. "The mechfighting ring is all about testing for the best robotics, whether that's in speed, strength, AI or what-have-you. It's essentially extreme troubleshooting. A couple people face off their creations, see who wins in whatever they're competing at. The thing is, there's no bitter rivalry after, no gambling on either side. Engineers that face off usually end up sharing their research and blueprints with each other to strengthen their bots. There's a slew of illegal activity with the tech involved, but everyone here is, for the most part, in on it."

"It's like a violent lab rat meeting."

"Yeah."

"And you said something about them having bots for me to see?"

"Not just see," Rachel beamed, "We got a few people with bots ready for you to fight with. You're up for the next match."

Pidge's eyes glittered. She rushed into the shouting crowd.

Allura laughed.

"That's our Pidge, alright."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love my babies. My ever so violent babies.  
> I got the mechfighting idea from cockfighting but apparently it was also in Big hero 6 I think? Also my original plan was for Rachel to be flat out drunk upon Pidge's arrival but I didn't want to write a hungover Rachel as a bridesmaid lol


	5. Self Repair

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance endures an episode of psychosis, attacking what he believes to be the Ambassador. People begin to wonder what exactly is triggering the worst of his PTSD, and if he's even fit to go on the mission with them.

**Warning: This chapter contains scenes of a character dealing with post traumatic stress disorder and visual and auditory hallucinations that include blood and violence.**

Lance ripped off the blankets covering him. It was so hot. So so hot. So stifling. He couldn't breathe. He nearly threw himself from the couch, landing on the floor on all fours. The air. There was no air. None. Why was it so hot? Was she doing this? He looked down at his hands. The blood. Oh crow, the blood. It was all over him. When did he put on his armor? Did he wear it to sleep? No. He couldn't have. Then why? Why was it on him? Why was _the blood_ on him?

There she was. Standing over him, the blood flowing. It was all coming from her. It was all from her. She was here. Here. She was making it so hot. So hard to breathe. He coughed. Was that blood? Was he bleeding now, too? She was doing this. Her. He should've ended it when he had the chance. He was such a coward. A coward. Why did he let her live?

He didn't. He didn't let her live. But she was alive. How? How did she come back? How did she find him? How was she taking away the air?

His bayard. He needed his bayard.Now. He concentrated. Concentrated hard. It was in his hand. He held it tight. So tight, so it wouldn't fall. He couldn't let go. He concentrated. His sword. He had his sword. Oh, crow. The blood. It was on his sword. She was bleeding on everything. Why won't she stop? Stop bleeding and die! Let it be over! He tried to slash at her. She knocked it down with her own. She wasn't attacking. Why wasn't she attacking? He couldn't kill her if she wasn't trying to kill him.This was wrong. She should be dead. Dead dead dead dead dead dea-

He swung again. She narrowly dodged it. She screamed. She was screaming at him. What? What was she saying? His name? His name. She was taunting him. Taunting. She-

Lance was pulled backwards by unseen hands. He shouted profanities in three languages, trying to break free. She got close. She was getting closer. So close. Too close. He tried to kick her but his legs were so tired. So so tired. He gave up, sobbing. The hands let him go.

"...Ance? Lance? Hey, can you hear me?" 

The voice.He knew it.

He opened his eyes. He hadn't even realized how tight he'd been holding them shut. He was shaking as his eyes darted around the room. She was gone. Gone.

"Lance? It's Matt. Okay?"

He focused on the figure closest to him. He was standing where she'd been standing. Was it her? Was it really Matt or was she just shape shifting? Could Alteans shape shift to that extreme?

"Lance, it's Matt. Okay? It's just me. Just me."

Lance, out of breath, suddenly reconnected with reality. He looked around the room again. Matt. Sam. Hunk. Marco. There was a pressure on his leg. Leon pawed at his thigh, whining and giving a little _boof_. He was covered in the wolfdog's hair.

He shook as he slid into a sitting position, tears in the corners of his eyes.

"What... What did I do? Did I hurt someone? Did I-"

Matt shook his head. "You gave us quite a scare, you had your bayard out, but you were too out of it to do any damage. Everything's okay now."

Hunk kneeled beside him, patting Leon's head. "He woke us up. Guess he couldn't handle this one alone." He stopped himself. "Wait, I'm sorry, I didn't mean-"

"It's okay." Lance was getting a steady heartbeat and regaining his ability to breathe. "I'm fine now. I'm fine."

"Son, how long has this been going on? The nightmares, how long have they been back?"

He clung to Leon's neck. "They never stopped... They were few and far between, but..." He was visibly concentrating now, his head still pounding. "They haven't been this bad for a while. I don't..."

"Do you know what triggered it? Something we can move or get rid of?"

He shook his head. "I have no idea why it's happening. It's been getting progressively worse over the past week, but... I don't know why. I don't know what's going on."

"The mission, maybe?" Hunk offered.

"I don't know. Maybe. I don't think so. But I don't know what else would've done it."

"Maybe..." Hunk looked at the others."Maybe we could bring back the VP formation? With Keith in the Black lion-?"

"No."

Lance practically shouted it.

"I'm going. It's my job and I'm going to do it. We're leaving Monday night, as planned, and I'm not going to just stay back and let all of you g-"

"Lance." Marco put a hand on his shoulder. "You didn't even tell us about this. Have you been on any meds? Seen a therapist? Anything?"

"I've got Leon. He probably seems like a dumb dog to all of you, but he's trained to handle this and having him around helps a lot. That's all I need."

"You just had a psychotic episode, Lance. Or panic attack, or whatever. You need help, so at least let your own family-"

"I'm fine," he snapped, shoving Marco's hand away. "I've been managing fine without anyone's help and I don't need it now. I don't want to put anyone else at risk."

"What about Pidge? Why don't you do it for her?"

"She's one of the few people that can handle me at my worst and she's said time and time again that she'd back whatever choice I made. I spent two years on meds, three in therapy, and I'm done. I just..." The tears started coming back. "I can't go through that again. I just can't. I've got to figure it out myself. I know you want to help, but this is on me, not you."

"... Maybe you should call her. Maybe that will-"

"No. I'm not going to ruin her night." He looked from face to face. "And no word of this to Pidge tomorrow. I'll tell her later, but I want tomorrow to go smoothly. That's all I care about right now." He pulled himself back onto the couch, wrapping his blanket around him as Leon hopped up next to him. The dog curled up beside him, taking up what was left of the couch and laying his head in Lance's lap.

"Let's just go back to sleep, okay? I'm fine now."

The boys hesitantly returned to their beds or makeshift sleeping pallets, but lie wake, listening for any signs of another nightmare. Marco and Hunk, once they were sure that he was out cold, moved their pillows and blankets to the living room floor. Neither of them got much sleep that night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was rough. I really wanted to address PTSD in this book, given the time it takes place, but having to write Lance showing the symptoms... It was painful to say the least, and might be hard for some to read. I hope that means I did a decent job on this chapter


	6. Something Borrowed, Something Blue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> IT'S THE WEDDING OH MY GOSH  
> Pidge and her mom discuss what her research is really for, and receives an offer of help from a usually abrasive source. Meanwhile, Lance frets that his written vows aren't good enough.
> 
> PART ONE

"We could've hired someone to do this, you know."

"We have everyone and everything we need right here."

Rachel stepped back to admire her handiwork.

"So, subtle, right? You wanted basic makeup with some subtle greens and blues?"

"I'm honestly not sure how on Earth you'd manage that, but that's what you suggested, right?"

"Well, it's your big day, I should be doing what _you_ want."

"I want you to do what you think looks best. That's why I asked you to do this."

She shrugged. "Alright. Here," she said, handing her a small mirror.

This was the first time today that Pidge had had the chance to see herself in the mirror at all, and she was blown away. It couldn't be said that Rachel had transformed her, but she'd done an exceptional job. Of course, Pidge had known she was skilled, and had expected her to do well, but seeing her reflection left her speechless. Having almost never worn makeup her whole life, she'd never experienced for herself it's power of illusion. Her eyes were beautifully accentuated with the faintest smokey eye, and framed with flawless, greenish-black eyeliner. The actual eyelids displayed a paled gradient of green to blue, and the tiniest bit of purple at the outer corners of her eyes made her golden brown eyes the center of attention. A light blush ran across either cheekbone, and rather than lipstick, Rachel had chosen a natural colored lip balm, which not only made her lips look naturally fuller, but was much more Pidge's style. Everything had been applied so expertly, right down to the soft finish, and wasn't as bold as she'd seen so many other brides wear.

"I love it," Pidge grinned.

Rachel stretched her arms a second. "Now for the hair."

"I've got it."

Colleen stood beside her, holding a bag of what Rachel assumed to be hair products.

"You sure?"

"Yeah. You go on and get ready, maybe help the other girls. I can take it from here."

She gave her work one last once-over before retreating to the other room. Colleen produced a brush and began work on her daughter's hair.

"You know, I knew you two would end up together from the start."

"Yeah, Mom, you've told me that before."

"I never realized how important you two are to each other, though. Marriage isn't easy, by any means, and it's going to be especially hard given your work and... Everything else. But you two have stayed at each other's side through everything. You have so much faith in each other. When your father was taken, and they claimed he was dead... I hadn't had that same sort of faith. I don't think your father did, either. But you two..." She smiled. "You both have it. You could be galaxies apart and still feel just as close as when you're standing side by side."

"Mom...?" Pidge looked down at the mirror in her hands. "Do you think I'm wasting my time on... On the project? I mean it's already been a couple years and we've barely gotten anywhere."

"Things that are worthwhile are rarely easy." She carefully began styling. "Though it would help if you were actually open with your team about what you're trying to do."

"I don't think they'd take it as seriously as me."

"You think they'd mock it?"

"No, they'd just..." She sighed, "We've been working on diseases, killing bad cells, reviving dead ones. I think what I'm wanting to do isn't something I _can_ do. I know chemistry and mechanics and math, but... I don't know much about psychology or neurology. I don't know if this is even possible. Finding a way to treat something physical is a lot easier than finding a way to treat emotional trauma. Especially without people available for this kind of observation. I thought about doing it myself, but then I'd need another person to-"

"You can't find anyone?"

"We don't just want anyone. We need someone similar to Lance to get it to work properly - another reason it can't be me. Age, intelligence, experience; there's lots of factors that play into it. But they can't have any signs of mental health issues, or it defeats the purpose of getting-"

"I'll do it." An voice cut her off.

Colleen and Pidge turned around to the figure in the doorway behind them.

"You're just going to take some pictures of my brain, right? A few dozen scans?"

"Uh... yeah." Pidge hesitated. "It's still not going to be very pleasa-"

"You're trying to fix Lance?"

"I wouldn't say 'fix' is the right word but-"

"If it's going to help him, I'll do it."

"Are you sure?"

"Do you have any other options lined up?"

"I... No."

"Well, you got _me_."

"... You might actually be the perfect person for the job." Pidge smiled.

"You ready?"

"Are you kidding?" Lance elbowed Hunk. "I was _born_ for this."

"To be a nervous wreck?"

"What are you talking about? I'm as confident as ever!"

"It took you ten tries to get your tie on."

"It's a complicated knot."

"It's one you could normally do in your _sleep_."

Lance sighed, running his fingers through his hair and looking himself over in the mirror. His suit fit perfectly; his tie on straight. He still felt... Off.

"Is there something wrong with me?"

"That's a heavy question, man."

"I meant, like, do I look okay?"

"You are terrible with words."

Hunk's reply was met with a slight cringe.

"Wait, is _that_ why you're nervous?" Keith entered, trying to tie his tie. "The vows thing, still?"

"What do you mean 'still'? Why wouldn't I be on edge about that?"

"Just seems like there are a dozen other things you could be worrying about."

"You saying things like that is exactly why I rarely open up to you. Besides, it's not about saying them, it's more about the fact that I wrote 'em."

"You're a decent writer and a great improv speaker. I'm sure what you have down is already plenty good, but if you still don't think so, you can add to them." He laid a hand on Lance's shoulder. "You'll be alright."

"... You need help with your tie, don't you?"

"... Yes."

He undid Keith's mess of a tie and began again. "Is everyone here?"

Matt popped his head into view from the doorway. "Matt is here," he said, disappearing into the other room once more. There was a short silence before he added, in the same manner, "Marco's here, too. The girls are all upstairs, minus 'Mel."

"Hello," Romelle's voice chimed from the other room.

"Why is she down here?" Lance carefully tightened Keith's tie before taking a quick look into the other room.

She was done up completely, her light teal dress taking him by surprise. If the bridesmaids' gown were that elegant, he could only imagine what Pidge would look like in hers.

"It's fine, I'm immune to all the wedding superstitions you all seem to have. Although I must say your traditions are rather cute. Everything you do has some symbolic meaning, even if it is a bit complicated." Romelle took his hands and gave them a half-excited-half-reassuring squeeze. "Are you ready?" she grinned.

He gave a grateful smile back."Yeah. I'm ready."

She let him go.

"It's time."

Lance took a deep breath as he nodded. He stepped outside, joining the officiant on a walk to the beachside altar.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so the reveal of which bridesmaid offered to help isn't a big reveal, it's kind of obvious, but whatevs.  
> Also, I wanted to stick with some kind of wedding-related chapter theme, so: something borrowed (the help from the bridesmaid) and something blue (our nervous little boy blue himself).


End file.
